I am an early adopter when it comes to anything TV or video-related. I got my VCR and DVR when each was in less than 10% of the U.S. My wife bought me a video iPod a month after it came out. I just bought an iPad 2. My household consists of just my wife, our 12-year-old son, and me, yet we have five television sets, four DVRs, digital cable, DirecTV (we need our NFL Ticket), a blu-ray and two regular DVD players, and three computers (two laptops and a desktop) -- Mac and PC.

Ad decision components -- whether hardware or software -- come into play once the ad inventory is properly watermarked and ready to air. But air where? And how? Ad Decision Managers and Servers help to channel and monitor campaigns:

Matt Warta entered the media research field via an unusual route -- from a stint in the venture capital world. From this unique perspective, he saw an opportunity with a new start-up that focuses on one-to-one online polling. Matt is a partner in GutCheck, which promises a focus group sensibility to online research, enabling clients to delve deeply into consumers' motivations and opinions. In an interview, Matt talks about his background, GutCheck, the world of venture capital, privacy issues with online polling and a look forward into the industry for the next few years.

As you read this, the disposition of one more squirming, sobbing, lying public "servant" may have already occurred. If not, it will shortly. That is political calculus. But what have we learned from the latest betrayal of trust, from the sordid travails of Anthony Weiner? Sadly that the bar has not been lowered, the bar is gone. This story is not about him, it's about us and what we have come to tolerate. It's also about how, in a very real way, our media culture of be noticed at any cost, it's OK if the ratings say it is, …

Competition isn't what it used to be. The Darwinian/Randian world of go-it-alone doesn't cut it anymore. In our interconnected, hyper-networked, flatter-every-day world, we're all members of the same global media ecosystem, and if you can't play with others, you'll soon be out of the game. There are no winners or losers in this environment. Instead, the businesses and individuals that thrive are those that understand the power of a mutually productive partnership.

Katie Couric certainly has her work cut out for her during the year ahead. Launching a new daytime talk show is a difficult enough task under the best of circumstances. To do so on a network at a time when its popular daytime schedule is literally being torn asunder and pieced back together seems like an almost insurmountable challenge.

Last week we outlined all the terms and definitions for Ad Coding. This week we explore Program Coding. As with Ad Codes, Program Codes must be unique, permanent, imperceptible watermarking identifiers that offer information about the program -- whether it is local, national, syndicated, cable, broadcast and original or repeat, for example.

Within the Holy Trinity of greatest TV comedies, the first two ("Seinfeld" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") went out on top when they were at their peak, while the third ("The Office") is rolling the dice to see if it can regain its momentum in an eighth season.

There's not much that's "hotter" than data. Everywhere we look, it's at the center of things. But this was not always the case. Data and the notion of data-based marketing was for far too long the purview of one (albeit very large) segment of the marketing community: the direct guys. They were taught that the process (it's not a technique) all began with customer data, of the addressable and transactional kind, which led to better targeting and customized value propositions, which generated measurable response, producing more data.

I went to the movies recently with my wife, my 12-year-old son, and my mother-in-law, who is in her early 70s. Prior to the movie, the theater aired several commercials, none of which my wife or I had seen before. My son, however, seemed quite familiar with them, and commented that the last ad was one of his favorites. My mother-in-law also seemed to recognize the commercials. When I said I never saw any of those commercials, my son said "Of course not, Dad, you never watch commercials. You fast-forward through everything. I love watching commercials."